Supporting collective government, helping to ensure the effective development, coordination, and implementation of policy;
Supporting the National Security Council and the Joint Intelligence Organisation, coordinating the government's response to crises, and managing the UK's cyber security;
Promoting efficiency and reform across government through innovation, transparency, better procurement, and project management, transforming the delivery of services, and improving the capability of the Civil Service;
Political and constitutional reform
The Cabinet Office has responsibility for the following at the UK national level:
UK Government Procurement Policy Notes are issued in the name of the Cabinet Office, although in the past they were issued by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS).[8] The CCS Helpdesk continues to act as the contact point for any queries.[9]
In October 2023 the government announced the establishment of a National Security Unit for Procurement within the Cabinet Office, which
"will work across government, including with our national security community, to investigate suppliers who could pose a risk to national security. The Unit will create a new layer of protection, by assessing whether companies should be struck off from competing to supply goods and services to the public sector where they pose a threat."[10]
Traditionally the most important part of the Cabinet Office's role was facilitating collective decision-making by the Cabinet, through running and supporting Cabinet-level committees. This is still its principal role, but since the absorption of some of the functions of the Civil Service Department in 1981 the Cabinet Office has also helped to ensure that a wide range of Ministerial priorities are taken forward across Whitehall.
It also contains miscellaneous units that do not sit well in other departments. For example:
The Historical Section was founded in 1906 as part of the Committee for Imperial Defence and is concerned with Official Histories.[12]
The Joint Intelligence Committee was founded in 1936 and transferred to the department in 1957. It deals with intelligence assessments and directing the national intelligence organisations of the UK.
The Ceremonial Branch was founded in 1937 and transferred to the department in 1981. It was originally concerned with all ceremonial functions of state, but today it handles honours and appointments.
In modern times the Cabinet Office often takes on responsibility for areas of policy which are the priority of the Government of the time. The units that administer these areas migrate in and out of the Cabinet Office as government priorities (and governments) change.
Ministers and civil servants
The Cabinet Office Ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold:[13]
Head of government; oversees the operation of the Civil Service and government agencies; appoints members of the government; he is the principal government figure in the House of Commons.
Driving delivery of government’s priorities;
Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy;
Oversight of civil contingencies and resilience;
National security and cyber security;
Economic security, including National Security and Investment Act;
Oversight of Cabinet Office business planning;
Oversight of major events;
Propriety and ethics;
Public appointments;
Honours;
GREAT campaign.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office[15]
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster administers the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster, and is a member of the Cabinet. After the Prime Minister, he is the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office.
Responsibilities:
Driving delivery of Government’s priorities;
Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy;
Oversight of civil contingencies & resilience (inc. COBR);
National Security including Cyber Security;
Oversight of Cabinet Office business planning;
Oversight of Major Events;
Propriety and Ethics;
Oversight of Cabinet work on science, technology, and innovation;
Public Appointments;
Honours;
GREAT campaign;
National Security & Investment.
Delivery of the government’s efficiency programme; Civil Service Modernisation and Reform; Places for growth programme; Cabinet Office business planning and performance; Infected Blood Inquiry; Public bodies reform programme; Spend controls reform; Oversight of the cross-cutting functions and government functional strategy.
Additionally supports the Deputy Prime Minister on: Driving delivery of the government’s priorities;
Civil contingencies and resilience.[16]
Supporting DPM on driving delivery of Government’s priorities; Supporting DPM and MCO on ensuring efficiency and value for money in Government policy; Supporting DPM and MCO on ensuring efficiency and value for money in Government delivery; Ensuring effective communication of Government’s priorities; Public Bodies reform programme (supporting MCO); Public appointments outreach (supporting DPM and BNR).[17]
Civilian and service personnel policy; armed forces pay, pensions and compensation; Armed Forces Covenant; welfare and service families; community engagement; equality, diversity and inclusion; veterans (including resettlement, transition, defence charities and Ministerial Covenant and Veterans Board, and Office of Veteran Affairs); legacy issues and non-operational public inquiries and inquests; mental health; Defence Medical Services; the people programme (Flexible Engagement Strategy, Future Accommodation Model and Enterprise Approach); estates service family accommodation policy and engagement with welfare.
Cabinet Office business in the Lords; Procurement Bill; COVID-19 Commemoration; Transparency and Freedom of Information; Sponsorship of UK Statistics Authority and Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman; Geospatial Commission; Supporting the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the delivery of civil service efficiency and modernisation; Supporting the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on honours; Supporting the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on borders, including the Single Trade Window.
Supporting the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in matters relating to the Constitution, the Union, and intergovernmental relations; Government inquiries – Infected Blood, Grenfell Tower, COVID-19; Procurement Bill; secondary legislation; support to Minister for the Cabinet Office on day-to-day management of the Government functions and Government Business Services.
The Government's Legislative Programme, chairing the Cabinet Committee; Managing and announcing the business of the House of Commons weekly and facilitating motions and debate in the Chamber, particularly on House business; Government's representative in the House (sitting on the House of Commons Commission, Public Accounts Commission, and the Speaker's Committees on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority); House of Commons representative in Government; Parliamentary reform and policy; Ministerial responsibility for the Privy Council Office.
Management and delivery of the Government's legislative programme (through the House of Lords) and facilitating the passage of individual bills; Leading the House (in the Chamber and as a key member of domestic committees to do with procedure, conduct, and the internal governance of the House); Issues connected to the House of Lords and its governance; Speaking for the Government in the Chamber on a range of issues, including repeating in the House of Lords statements made to the Commons by the Prime Minister; Ceremonial and other duties as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal.
The Deputy Leader of the House of Lords supports the House of Lords in its job of questioning government ministers, improving legislation and debating topics of national significance.
The Cabinet Office senior civil servants are as follows:
To relieve the burden on the Cabinet by dealing with business that does not need to be discussed at full Cabinet. Appeals to the Cabinet should be infrequent, and Ministers chairing Cabinet Committees should exercise discretion in advising the prime minister whether to allow them.
To support the principle of collective responsibility by ensuring that, even though a question may never reach the Cabinet itself, it will be fully considered. In this way, the final judgement is sufficiently authoritative that Government as a whole can be expected to accept responsibility for it. In this sense, Cabinet Committee decisions have the same authority as Cabinet decisions.
Buildings
The entrance to the Cabinet Office.
The main building of the Cabinet Office is at 70 Whitehall, adjacent to Downing Street. The building connects three historically distinct properties, as well as the remains of Henry VIII's 1530 tennis courts, part of the Palace of Whitehall, which can be seen within the building. The Whitehall frontage was designed by Sir John Soane and completed by Sir Charles Barry between 1845 and 1847 as the Treasury Buildings. Immediately to the west Dorset House (1700) connects the front of the building to William Kent's Treasury (1733–36), which faces out onto Horse Guards Parade. The latter is built over the site of the Cockpit, used for cock fighting in the Tudor period, and subsequently as a theatre. In the early 1960s the buildings were restored and many of the Tudor remains were exposed and repaired. Significant renovations between 2010 and 2016 converted many of the floors to open plan and created new office space. The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms are located on this site.
The department occupies other buildings in Whitehall and the surrounding area, including part of 1 Horse Guards, as well as sites in other parts of the country.
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